Cyril Ramaphosa Q&A

President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses nation on developments in risk-adjusted strategy to manage spread of Coronavirus COVID-19, 23 July 2020 / Image via GCIS

Marikana massacre: Ramaphosa ordered to apologise or face legal action

One of the legal representatives of the victims’ families, advocate Dali Mpofu, said an apology from President Cyril Ramaphosa and government was more important the money.

Cyril Ramaphosa Q&A

President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses nation on developments in risk-adjusted strategy to manage spread of Coronavirus COVID-19, 23 July 2020 / Image via GCIS

The legal team representing the families of the Marikana massacre victims has given President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government until Monday, 31 August 2020, to apologise to the victims and also compensate them.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) held a commemoration of the tragedy at the Gracepoint Methodist Church in Midrand on Sunday, 16 August 2020.

Advocate Dali Mpofu said an apology from the government and Ramaphosa was more important than money.

“We’re going to take this matter up against him personally and against his government. If you ask me on 1 September if they have complied or not, in fact the clients are being generous, nobody must blame us about what will follow”, Mpofu said.

Mpofu on Marikana massacre: The families want closure

He said the president had been using technicalities in the court system to avoid making an actual apology to the families.

“Actually, the issue of an apology is more important to them than the money because they want closure. We appeal to Ramaphosa to stop taking technical points in his capacity as president of the country.

I have been asked by the people we represent to say we are giving them until the end of August – if they have not compensated these people, we are going to see what we do about that”, he added.

On 16 August 2012, 34 mineworkers who were on strike for better wages at Lonmin’s North West platinum mine, were gunned down by police following days of unrest and clashes.

At the time of the killings, Ramaphosa was a non-executive director at Lonmin mine and was accused of using his influence to act against the mineworkers.

The president has apologised for his role in the massacre and said he would visit the victims in Marikana – however he is yet to honour his word.

Amcu’s president Joseph Mathunjwa has lashed out at police for their heavy-handedness during the incident and said there needed to be reform in the country’s policing system.

Ramaphosa’s involvement in ‘Sibanye Stillwater Massacre’

Mathunjwa further said Sibanye Stillwater, which now owns Lonmin, should take responsibility for the deaths and that it should no longer be referred to as the ‘Marikana Massacre’.

“We’re no longer going to call it ‘Marikana Massacre’, we’re no longer going to call it ‘Lonmin Massacre’, but we are going to call it ‘Sibanye Stillwater Massacre’. These people are cousins, they’re the same”, he said.

“In this country we do not have leaders, but we have managers. The state, acting as a gatekeeper of the white monopoly capital, killed fellow South African in order to prove to their masters that their foreign direct investment is safe”